Seibo Gakuin Visit
Recently we have had the pleasure of hosting 21 students and 2 staff from our Japanese sister-school – Kyoto Seibo Gakuin. During this time the Seibo students were paired up with a Saint Aloysius buddy who is currently studying Japanese in either year 10, 11, or 12. While paired up, the Seibo students attended many regular classes with their buddies and experienced what an Australian high school lesson is like. Many of the Seibo students also participated in a couple of Japanese classes to see how Japanese is learnt here compared to in Japan.
Over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week, our years 9 to 12 Japanese classes went on a variety of excursions with the Seibo students. These excursions included to the Melbourne Zoo where our year 11/12 students showcased some of the amazing wildlife Australia has to offer, and the Seibo students experienced their first time having their food stolen by aggressive seagulls. In the city the Seibo students were shown around by our year 10/11 tour guides. They were able to experience some of the touristy places in Melbourne as well as many of the local favourites. On Thursday, many of the year 9s went with the Seibo students to the Melbourne Museum and helped tour them around the various exhibits there. They especially enjoyed the dinosaur and insect exhibits.
In conjunction with the various excursions, the Seibo students also got to experience some special Australian-style classes. On Tuesday, Mrs Cunnington ran an Art class where they used water colours to create some beautiful images of native Australian animals after the likeness of Margaret Preston. On Wednesday, Mrs Geary and Mr Smith ran a science lesson where Seibo students made their own lava lamps. On Thursday, with Ms Forslind and Lisa, the Seibo students cooked caramelised onion and pork sausage rolls. Finally, today students learned to do a blanket stich and created a kangaroo keyring out of felt with Ms Franze and Sarah.
Over the course of their stay, it has been delightful to watch new international friendships being formed and seeing the students, both those of Saint Aloysius and of Seibo Gakuin, increase their confidence in their language ability as well as intercultural understanding, empathy, and perspective. The time that the Seibo students have spent here has allowed our students to challenge the limits of their Japanese ability and overcome language barriers to enjoy effective communication both in English and Japanese. Watching the students push themselves to communicate using any language available has shown them all that there is nothing they can’t do if they just give it a go. We look forward to continuing to strengthen the relationship between our two schools throughout the remainder of the year, and the years to come!
Steven Bina
Japanese Teacher
In the days leading up to this week, it was clear that everyone was eager to meet the Japanese students coming to St Aloysius. Not only was this an opportunity to extend our hospitality, but as students, we have been able to deepen our knowledge of the language and prompt the beginning of long-lasting friendships.
On the first day of their stay, Year 11 & 12 students had the opportunity to go to the Melbourne Zoo with them. Despite everyone being exhausted from running around the various enclosures, I was able to create countless memories full of laughter and a bit of broken Japanese. It was a great challenge to take on the role of guide for foreign students, however it presented the chance to climb over language barriers and strengthen our relationship with our buddies.
Katelyn Vien (12B)
Having the Japanese exchange students visit our school this week has been a wonderful and insightful experience. As they arrived on Monday, we were thrilled to meet and converse with the students about their lifestyles in Japan and show them what our lives are like in Australia.
Later this day, we accompanied them on an excursion to the Melbourne Zoo. This strengthened our relationship with our new friends and enabled us to build upon our Japanese language skills as we took them on a tour to see a variety of animals. Throughout the week, they have also joined us in a number of our classes, which is an experience that we will always remember and reflect upon.
Olivia Mosticone (12B)
On Wednesday, the Year 10 and 11 students went on an excursion to the city with the Japanese students and it was really engaging. We got to go to popular places such as the Royal Arcade, Block Arcade, Victoria State Library and Melbourne Central and make memorable experiences.
Setara Kazim Ali (11B)
This week, hosting the Japanese students from Kyoto Seibo-Gakuin has been a culturally and linguistically enriching experience. We were each allocated a Japanese student who would follow us to some of our day-to-day classes to gain insight into what school is like in Australia. On Wednesday, the Year 10s and 11s toured the students around the city, showing off various landmarks and practising our Japanese conversational skills. This has been an amazing opportunity to form friendships with the Japanese students and view our culture from a foreign perspective!
Catherine Fu (10B)
On Thursday the 31st July. Some of the Year 9 Japanese class went to Melbourne Museum with the Japanese students who were visiting Melbourne as part of their Australian trip. At the museum, we saw dinosaur fossils and explored areas such as the bugs and forest sections. It was a really enjoyable day and we had a great time talking with the students from Japan. There was so much laughter and so many memorable moments I’ll never forget.
Dean Barravecchio (9B)